After visiting Spain and having some trouble finding a strong
permaculture community (in fairness, I could have looked harder), I decided to spend some time in Portugal where I'm pretty sure there is a strong
permaculture community. I am sharing my findings in hopes they'll be useful to others looking for a place to
permaculture socially.
Please keep in mind the below is subjective to my perspective as a 30 something tech worker and based on a few days of observation. I'm used to fairly forested areas on the west coast of the US and lots of protection from my own lack of
common sense 
. I am curious if you disagree with my impressions or if I've missed something.
The 3 destinations I've explored are
Area ~1h north of Lisbon
Around Tabua and Arganil
Area directly east of Serra
de Estrela
Criteria
Besides a
permaculture community, my other criteria is access to beautiful and reasonably challenging hikes (latter being why south of Castelo Branco is out). Within 1h to a decent hospital and 2h to airport also important.
Process
In each area, I'm staying at a "farm stay" Airbnb and I've reached out to permies I've met on the internet for at least a chat (either on Workaway or by asking Airbnb hosts for
local contacts). I'll be using these contacts to understand what life in the area is like. My goal was to spend a few days in each area and longer if I like it.
Impressions: ~1h north of Lisbon
I stayed with a British couple who are relatively new to the area and live on a small farm. Did some hiking and went to the beach, as well as food shopping and lots of driving/walking through towns.
What I liked
- People are incredibly nice and willing to help. This is based on interaction with shop keepers and confirmed by my Airbnb host. People greeted me while hiking.
- Strong individual farming culture. It seems like everyone here has a small farm. Besides vegetables/grapes, I saw a number of citrus
trees, sheep, pigs and quite a few chained up guard dogs.
- Proximity to airport, presumably better hospitals and general opportunities for buying things compared to more remote area of Portugal.
What I didn't like
- Both in terms of farming and the nature visible while hiking, the area looks exhausted. Lots of abandoned houses. Soil is very light in color and doesn't seem to hold
water well. Very few patches of the beautiful
native Mediterranean trees and lots of ugly eucalyptus trees or outright deforestation. Lots of "not nature" in nature parks (antennas, paved roads everywhere, farming activity).
- Perceived lower standards of "safety". For example,
wood stove in my stay leaks smoke. One lane roads with steep drop offs and no guard rails. While hiking, I encountered an off-leash dog which barked aggressively at me with no owner in sight (there were lots of chained up aggressive dogs in general). Possibly the expanses of highly flammable eucalyptus also fit in this category. Also, some really low doorways (will see if trend continues).
Impressions: Tabua/Arganil
I stayed with a Brit and visited a permaculture teaching center, as well as doing some hikes in the area.
What I liked
- People are still very nice and willing to share their knowledge. - Shop keepers went out of their way to communicate and get to know me better. Fewer dogs and consequently no aggressive dogs.
- While there's less evidence of farming (fields) and production, people here appear to live sustainably.
Solar panels and
wood smoke can be seen from houses.
- Fiber optic internet at my Airbnb. Wowed that this is available in such a rural area.
What I didn't like
- As before, nature in the area appears exhausted and abused. Hiking shows either eroded mountains devoid of trees, burned trees or eucalyptus plantations. While the soil looks better than around Lisbon, there's not a lot of use of it for food production. Despite this being the end of the harvest season, most food I saw in houses appears to be purchased.
- Roads and anything to do with transportation is pretty bad. Roads are poorly lit, poorly marked and a least a couple were crumbling on the sides into deep valleys. Drivers drive old (less safe) cars and are surprisingly aggressive with a poor notion of "safe following distance". Some houses don't have road access or have steep dirt road access which can only be navigated by an off-road vehicle.
- Buildings are poorly built and poorly insulated. Shops are freezing inside and are even colder than outside. Heating system at my stay broke multiple times. Walls are built from unmortared stone which can be felled by moving dirt or human hands. This is considered normal/traditional whereas solid walls and temperature control are luxuries.
- 2 separate occasions where people where burning vegetation within
city limits (Tabua and Arganil) creating poor quality air.
Impressions: Area directly east of Serra de Estrella
I stayed at a large farm run by a Dutch family, which produced olive oil, had some sheep and horses. One thing I liked is that Serra de Estrella had more trees, maybe even 50% cover in some areas. One thing I didn't like is that even here, the majority of food appears to be imported from Spain as opposed to being locally produced. Given the accommodations were colder and less clean than previous hosts, I left after one night.
Conclusions
The trend was clear that I wouldn't be comfortable in Portugal (further confirmed by being unable to find accommodation east of Estrella which did not rely on traditional wood stoves). The primary reasons being a lack of unspoiled nature and a lack of comfort both indoors and while driving.
I decided to hoof it to Spain. Upon crossing the border I was met with well-maintained roads which were clearly marked and populated by modern cars driving safe distances from each other. I also had the pleasure of driving through a beautiful fully forested area in the south of Leon. I am now recuperating with jamon in a well-insulated and heated house in Andalucia.
In terms of permaculture community, I think permies.com will suffice. The people in Spain are friendly
enough that we can find other common topics of discussion
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